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The Gordons’ pioneering work in composites includes the first corrugated panels made with fiberglass-reinforced plastic. They were among the first to make composite surfboards, diving boards and archery bows. Work with archery equipment led to the development of advanced laminates that today have the lion’s share of the business in that market. Capable of deep deflection with virtually no loss of memory after millions of cycles, the laminates find use wherever those properties are needed, such as in office chairs and vibratory conveyors. A second generation now runs the business. Mike Gordon, son of founder Don Gordon, is CEO. Dave Gordon, son of founder Dave Gordon Sr., supports the company as a Consultant serving the archery industry. The Gordon brothers George, Don and Dave were born in the Midwest but settled in San Diego after World War II. Dave Gordon Sr. had visited San Diego while serving in the U.S. Navy. He liked the area and later returned. Eventually, all three ended up in San Diego, California. “They pooled their resources in the early 1950s to start a business using George’s chemistry background,” says son and nephew Dave Gordon. “They were working in a Quonset hut and it was very dark, probably only a couple of incandescent light bulbs hanging in there. At that time, George was mixing polyester paint. He got the idea of making skylights using the corrugated shape from the metal. Someone from Owens Corning had given him some fiberglass mat and he laid that up with some of his white paint. He used wax as a release agent.” Gordon says the brothers didn’t think much of their new skylights until someone noticed the product from the highway and stopped to ask about them. The visitor wanted to buy some of the panels but the brothers weren’t interested – until he quoted a price. “The panels were huge for a while,” says Gordon. “And that led to the start of the Alsynite Company in the U.S., which went from making patio coverings to composite trailer linings. The brothers and their company soon ventured into a number of other applications including diving boards and surfboards. “They also lost their shorts on a car body,” adds Gordon. “They were trying to make a fiberglass body for an electric car. They fussed with that for five or 10 years but nothing came of it.” Then one fateful day in the mid-1950s, a San Diego maker of archery bows named Frank Eicholtz approached them about making a better facing and backing for his laminated bows. After discussions that piqued the Gordons’ interest, the brothers started making laminates for archery bows. Early products sandwiched a wood core between layers of fiberglass-reinforced plastic. “They started laying out, with hand lay-up, some unidirectional material and a fine scrim cloth at the surface of it,” says Gordon. “They would actually hand wind these frames, lay them on a heated table and pour epoxy (resin) down inside a cellophane wrapper. They would then wipe the frame down, squeegee it and drag the air out of it. It was a messy and slow process, to say the least.” Later, the brothers developed solid laminates for bows. Early versions were relatively thin sheets compared to the bar stock used as bow limbs today in the most advanced archery equipment. “I remember making 20 sheets and sliding them in to cook at about 2.5 to 3 psi pressure for 45 minutes,” says Gordon. “After they cured we would pull them out, peel off the cellophane and trim the flashing. We used to make about 150 sheets on a shift. Now we probably make 150 sheets in 10 minutes.”
During these early years, Gordon Plastics, Inc. – as the company was known then – was housed in a small metal building on Banks Street in San Diego. During the early ‘60s their landlord built a new 12,000-square-foot facility that served them through 1975. This facility is where most of the initial R & D for today’s technology took place. During the ‘60s the brothers decided to sell the bow-making business. Since they were producing bows and also selling Bo-Tuff laminate to most of the other bow manufacturers, there seemed to be a conflict of interest with their archery customers. The Gordons decided to concentrate solely on producing high quality laminate for all bow manufacturers. In 1973 they sold the bow company to Browning Arms. Their archery accounts during the late ‘60s and early ‘70s included all of the leading companies – Root Archery, Bear Archery, Wing Archery and Ben Pearson Archery. By now named Gordon Composites, the company also furnished limb material for some of the first compound bows produced. “At archery competitions today we’re unique with our market position because we always win,” says Gordon. “The winning bow has always got Gordon glass on it. “We’ve been selling materials to the same people for 40 or 50 years,” he continues. “I’ve outlived three or four turnovers in a lot of our customers and at least a part of our success is due to our very well developed relationships with people that we’ve known.” Steve Johnson, General Manager and Vice President, says such relationships extend well beyond the company’s customer base. “Building strong relationships throughout the supply chain is fundamental to our business strategy,” explains Johnson. In 1974, Olin Ski, Co. approached Gordon Composites in search of a domestic supplier for unidirectional fiber reinforcement for their snow skis. A 24,000 sq. ft. facility was built in San Marcos, Calif. and a new continuous production system was put into operation. Shortly after they moved into this new facility the three brothers added a second building on their 3.5 acres and developed a process to produce bar stock (solid bow limb material). The company continued to supply laminate to domestic ski manufacturers into the ‘90s, and makes the leading laminate and bar stock for the archery industry today. By the early 1990s, the company needed to expand again and decided to look at Colorado as a possible place to relocate. “We had purchased some property in the southeast part of the state in 1981,” says Mike Gordon. “The land did not lend itself to where the company was going so we sold it and began to look at other places on the west slope (of the Rockies) and found a good deal in Montrose. We designed a very efficient plant and moved here in 1995. “Any time you move a business, there’s a period you go through trying to acclimate and in this case it was a literal process – the different humidity, the drier climate and the elevation (just under 6,000 feet) affected the cure cycle of our thermoset epoxy system. We went through quite an ordeal rewriting all our process specifications to do business here.” Gordon says the higher altitude shortened their production process. “We had to cool it down,” he explains. “Our exothermic reaction seemed to run much faster and that really changed the way we did things. Getting started here took a while but it was fun and we finally got over the top. “We brought 29 employees with us,” continues Gordon. “We left it open for everybody to move at our expense. We thought that was the right thing to do. About two-thirds of them came. “We had a solid foundation of business,” says Gordon. “We weren’t out scrambling for a new contract or some new business and it remains that way today.” Gordon Composites today operates out of a 48,000-square-foot facility that includes one of the world’s largest creels for glass reinforcements. In fact, their creel for high-performance glass may be the world’s largest for that product. The E glass creel can have as many as 2,496 ends, and the creel for high-performance glass can have 3,196 ends. The company also processes carbon reinforcements for certain applications. Total capacity of the creels is 8,904 ends. The company has two production lines – one making laminates and the other making thicker bar stock. A fabrication processes both materials for specific applications. One of their specialties is contoured laminates for both archery and industrial applications. Johnson says there is plenty of evidence in the company today that the character of the Gordon brothers lives on. “We now use proprietary technology to produce world class composites,” he explains. “The spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation that started with the founders is carried on today at Gordon. “Gordon Composites became employee owned in 2006, which says a lot about how we feel about our employees,” adds Johnson. “The capability of our technology and qualities of our composites are a result of the knowledge and dedication a very special team of employees brings to work every day.” During the past five years, Gordon Composites has doubled production of archery bow limb material. In 2006, the company supplied material for approximately 620,000 compound bows, X-bows, target bows and traditional hunting equipment. Production of sail battens, industrial springs and furniture springs is also up in the past five years and the business has grown at a double-digit pace during that time. So it turns out the Gordon brothers’ first corrugated skylights did a lot more than illuminate their paint-mixing process. It lit the way for a whole series of businesses making products with composites.
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In 1954 the brothers produced their own line of archery
bows using a fiber reinforced laminate that George Gordon developed
in his lab. For the rest of the 1950s through 1963, they produced bows
under the “Royal
Gordon Bows” brand. Three of the models they produced were the “King,” “Queen” and “Knight.” During
this period they also developed and produced composite arrow shafts that
were sold under the name “Graphlex” and “Glashaft,” which
were popular in schools across the country.
George
Gordon made the first corrugated fiberglass panels, which led to the
Alsynite Company making translucent roofing products. That company went
on to make composite trailer linings and other composite products.